Disposal of waste materials from communities and industry is a serious environmental concern. As population increases, waste volume is also increasing, as well as the space it occupies, and the deleterious effects on the environment. In general, waste from communities and various types of industrial facilities varies widely in composition, and may include, for example, organic waste, such as kitchen and yard waste, polymeric materials, such as various forms of plastic and tires, scrap wood, oil-impregnated rags, and refuse oils, all of which are organic, as well as inorganic materials, such as construction debris, scrap metal, and increasingly, heavy metals from electronics disposal.
Disposal of waste materials by combustion has not been favored, particularly in the United States, because of the production of environmental pollutants produced by the combustion, such as particulate matter from incomplete combustion and noxious gases. However, in urban areas, landfill sites are increasing capacity, and the public is becoming increasingly focused on reuse and recycling of waste materials, instead of burying trash in traditional waste disposal landfills. Accordingly, there is a need for alternate methods of waste disposal.
Pyrolysis of waste is currently known. In pyrolytic waste treatment, organic materials are heated in an environment with little or no oxygen content to convert the organic components of waste to decompose products, generally carbonaceous residue and resultant gases, which are scrubbed and released into the environment.
However, known pyrolytic waste treatment apparatus and methods have proved unworkable or economically unfeasible, inefficient, and/or unreliable in continuous operation, and further there is a need to pretreat the waste in some processes. They are also generally large industrial scale apparatus, some having large conveyor portions for waste delivery which is unsuitable for smaller scale applications. Further, known pyrolytic waste treatment apparatus and methods do not allow for the production and collection of lower molecular weight feedstock liquid chemicals and gases that are a product of the pyrolytic decomposition.
Therefore, there is a need for an improved pyrolytic waste treatment system and methods that are highly efficient, capable of operation with a wide variety of waste materials, and are variable in size from industrial to consumer (individual) size systems. It is further advantageous that the waste does not need to be pre-treated for economic efficiency. To meet these needs, it is also desirable that there is ease of operation and does not use a conveyor apparatus. There is also a need for a pyrolytic waste treatment system that is capable of collecting decomposition products and of controlled pyrolysis to produce feedstock chemicals which can also be collected.